Pentecost 2025:

Good morning, brethren. There are things in life that we never forget, unforgettable events. If you’re married, you remember your wedding day. If you’ve ever been robbed before in someone’s presence, mugged even, you remember it. Probably remember the day you were baptized, where you were baptized, who baptized you, whether or not they’re still here, whether or not it was in The Restored Church of God or a splinter, or the Worldwide Church of God. You remember the birth of a child, if you have children. Today is Father’s Day. Maybe the loss of a child, for some, the loss of a parent, severe injury, maybe a graduation, maybe leaving home for the first time.

There are certain things that we just don’t forget. They’re charged with emotion and become unforgettable. I have an article here from the Queensland Brain Institute from the University of Queensland, What Makes Memories Stronger?, and I’m going to briefly quote from the beginning of it, skip a few things, but briefly quote from the beginning.

“Your experiences in the world are based on information received through a combination of senses, sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell.” You think back to some of those memorable events and others we opened with, and they’re filled with sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell. “Some memories seem seared into our brains while others are fleeting wisps of recollection. What affects the strength and duration of memories? One thing that helps make a memory robust is if it has strong emotional content.”

You probably still remember where you were when you found out that a close family member had passed away, or we could say, if you’re of that generation, when President Kennedy was shot, or later in the timeline where you were on nine-eleven, or where you were on your first date with your spouse. I remember my first one-on-one date with my spouse in Buffalo. We started at a breakfast restaurant, and she ate the breakfast, and then asked if she could have another breakfast. I never forgot. Never forgot. I knew if this worked out, I’d have to budget a little more for food, not just for two. No. It’s a true story. I wasn’t that concerned about it at the time, but I noted it. It was memorable.

Continuing with the article here, “This happens because of the amygdala,” those intense memories, “...because of the amygdala which brain imaging studies have shown is activated by emotional events.” God designed in us a component of the brain that induces a response that leads to long-term memory creation. “The amygdala boosts memory encoding by enhancing attention and perception and can help memory retention by triggering the release of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.”

Any number of those memories we opened with, or other strong memories that probably flood into your mind when we address this subject, release adrenaline, cortisol, in varying degrees based upon the memory, and the memory becomes stronger. What if God wanted to capture the attention of an entire nation? What might He do? Exodus chapter nineteen. He created the brain, He created the amygdala, He created cortisol. He created adrenaline for a reason.

Exodus nineteen, what might He do if He wanted a people never to forget something? Starting verse one. We read this recently in the Church, but it’s fitting to read it on Pentecost in this context. “In the third month,” Exodus nineteen one, “when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and their Israel camped before the mount.

“And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine.” A very important covenant was on the table. What setting did God choose to introduce this covenant?

“You’ll be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto them. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And the people answered, Yes, all that the Lord has spoken we’ll do. “And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, Lo, I come to you in a thick cloud,” images involved, sight involved, “...in a thick cloud, that the people may hear,” another sense, “when I speak with you, and believe you for ever.” God is creating an intense memory, and this is only the beginning of it.

“And Moses told the words to the people unto the Lord. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.” Terrifying to contemplate if you’re a carnal human being. God is going to come down in our sight. Now, they saw extraordinary things in Egypt. They were primed in a certain way, but imagine telling one of your coworkers in the world, “God is about to come down in your sight, in a cloud, a thick cloud of darkness.” It would be terrifying to them.

“And you shall set bounds unto the people round about, saying,” this would amp it up even further, “Take heed to yourselves, that you go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever touches the mount shall be surely put to death.” A life and death matter. The adrenaline would have been coursing, the amygdala would have been in overdrive, to put it in physiological terms. “There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet sounds long,” so a powerful blast from a trumpet, “when the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mount.

“And Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives. And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount...” God could have chosen to give His law any way He wanted, but He chose, if I can use the term, a mighty spectacle. Spectacle is probably a bad term. It reduces it. He chose mighty sights, sounds, wonders, to sear into the Israelites minds, the covenant that they were entering into with a being who was far superior, who is far superior to them.

“...and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.” You could probably feel the earthquake just by the people around you, trembling. An amazing sight, an unprecedented sight. “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp...” Transport yourself and your family to that moment in your mind’s eye. How would you feel? Not as a converted Christian, but as an Israelite, how would you feel? How would you feel for yourself? How would you feel for your family? You’d be terrified.

Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke because... Excuse me, verse seventeen, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God.” This was like a business meeting with God. “And they stood at the nether part of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.” So you’ve got the trembling people, but also the shaking mountain in front of you.

“And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.” To see this sight during this moment, which could have very easily resulted in, what I’ve heard called an amygdala hijack, where somebody just loses their mind. God said, “Keep them away.” Moses said, “We’ve already told them that.” He said, “Go down and keep them away.”

He knew the intense emotions that this would stir up in people, that would ultimately lead to remembering that day, hopefully. We’ll see more about that in a moment. “...the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through and gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. And Moses said to the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai: for you charged us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.

“And the Lord said to him, Away, get down, and you shall come up, and Aaron with you: but let not the priests and the people break through to come upon the mount, lest he break forth upon them.” God didn’t want to harm them, but He would have remained true to his word if they broke through. “So Moses went up onto the people and spake to them.” And this is the context, of course, we know this, that God used to give the Ten Commandments. Just go through the first couple here.

“And God spoke these words saying, I am the Lord your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make unto you any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down yourself to them nor serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments.”

Unforgettable, right? Impossible to forget a sight like that. It would surpass any of those early memories we cited in terms of intensity, in terms of memorableness. Nothing would compare. Unforgettable. Every sense engaged. Well, not so much. Exodus thirty-two. Exodus thirty-two. Moses had gone back up into the mountain to receive further instructions, and not much time had passed. We pick it up here in Exodus thirty-two.

“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount,” the very mount they just saw all that occur on, “the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said to him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us.” They saw all that. Then they heard, “You shall have no other God before me.” They heard, “Don’t make any graven image, don’t make anything that looks like anything on earth or in heaven.” And this is their plan, “...which shall go before us; for as this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,” not God, but Moses brought us out of the land of Egypt, “we wot not what has become of him.” We don’t know what happened to him.

“And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden earrings...” Aaron, who went up into the mount with Moses. It didn’t just say that Moses went up, Aaron went up as well. He was in charge while Moses was away. “...Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

How soon they forgot, despite God using every tool in the toolbox to sear it into their mind. What more could He have done? What more could He have done? Nothing. Nothing at the time, at least. There was something more that He could have done and did do and will do in greater measure. We’ll see. They made the calves. Then verse six. They rose up early on the morrow, offered burnt offerings, peace offerings. They sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. And God, of course, knew about this. He said to Moses, “Go down; for your people, which you brought forth out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them.”

It didn’t take long. I took every care to make sure they understood the covenant they were agreeing to, but they quickly turned out of the way that I commanded them and “have made a molten calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed thereunto, and said, ‘These be your gods, O Israel, which have brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people.” And the Lord said, “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and make of you a great nation.”

And of course, we know Moses stood in the gap and pleaded with God and said, “What will the Egyptians and other nations think of you? You could bring them out, but you couldn’t spare them.” And the Lord,” verse fourteen, “repented of the evil which He thought to do to the people.” It didn’t work. It didn’t work. I’m not saying God was unsuccessful. He probably knew that it was not going to work. It didn’t work. What went wrong? The amygdala was in overdrive as never before for every single person there. What went wrong? They forgot God, and not just forgot him, they forgot Him quickly.

Let’s see today how important it is, Brethren, to never forget. Never forget. That can almost be our mantra as Christians, and particularly on the day of Pentecost, never forget. And we’ll look at some things specifically that we can never forget. We’ll weave in other Pentecost themes as well. This meeting was so important to God. This day was so important to God that He actually implemented, we know, a countdown to it, unique to any other day. Turn to Leviticus twenty-three. It didn’t work. The sights and sounds and feelings and smells and so on and so forth, didn’t work. So He added an element of a countdown.

When you think of a countdown when a rocket ship goes off, or when I was a little boy, I loved my mother at the edge of the driveway would count down ten, nine, eight, seven, and then when she got to one she’d say, “Blast off.” And she’d gun it into the street, thankfully, when there was no cross traffic. Sometimes the countdown probably had some lag in it or some recount down if there was passing traffic, but you understand a countdown. You count down to something big, something memorable.

So God implemented, here in Leviticus twenty-three, fifteen, a countdown, “And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering,” during the days of unleavened bread, “seven sabbaths shall be complete. Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall you number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. You bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.

“And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be burnt offerings unto the Lord, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire.” Skipping down to verse twenty-one, “And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation unto you. You shall do no customary work on it. It will be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout all your generations.” Picturing the saints, the first fruits, but a countdown to the day. So you’ve got the emotional connection, you’ve got the mental countdown to this very important day, yet none of this worked. Israel continued to yo-yo.

They’d obey, they’d be punished, they’d repent. They’d come back to serve the Lord half-heartedly. They’d slip back into idolatry, or whatever sin it was at the time. Then they’d drift away from God, He’d have to punish them. Nothing was working. Something was missing. They continually forgot, despite the most powerful physical reminders possible.

Acts chapter one. Acts one. God knew He had to do something more. And He had long planned to do this, but this was His time to act, and no pun intended. Acts, chapter one and verse four. “And, being assembled together with them,” Christ, “commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, says He, you have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.”

Chapter two, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” And the same God who thirty-five hundred-ish years ago on Sinai gave memorable, unforgettable sights, signs, and wonders, was going to bring miracles to this event as well. “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” What a sight. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

“And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?” Couldn’t believe what they were seeing. But a loving God gave a memorable event to those people who were carnal minds, but they could have easily gone on to be among the thousands who were subsequently baptized. And they were all amazed and marveled at Galileans.

Verse eight, “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwellers in Mesopotamia, and Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia...” and so on and so forth. “And they were all amazed,” verse twelve, “and were in doubt, saying unto one another, What means this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, You men of Judaea, and all you that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known to you, and hearken to my words.” And then he gave that sermon that we’re all very familiar with at the inception of the New Testament Church.

You had the law given thirty-five hundred years ago. You had the Church started two thousand years ago. You have the day picturing the first fruits and all that that means, a titanic day in the plan of God. A day that can’t be forgotten. And with the Holy Spirit and the disciples, you didn’t see a golden calf moment twelve chapters later as we saw in Exodus. No, they had the Holy Spirit. They were able to see with spiritual eyes, hear with spiritual ears, exercise their spiritual senses, and they didn’t forget, just as we who have the Holy Spirit in us or working with us can read those accounts and they have more meaning to us than to the carnal beings that were witnessing them firsthand thousands of years ago.

It’s really an amazing thing. This is a day that can’t be forgotten. God never wants us to forget certain things, Brethren. And you could argue it begins with never forgetting Pentecost given all that’s attached to it in meaning. Now, forget throughout the Old Testament is often shawkaka, S-H-A-W-K-A-K-A, and it means to mislay. That is to be oblivious of from want of memory or attention. I misplaced something. I forgot where it was. I mislaid it. I wasn’t careful with it. I wasn’t giving it the proper attention. I didn’t hold it in mind. I mislaid it. You probably can think of instances where you’ve misplaced or mislaid something, forgotten something. Something may be important.

I remember my stepdad lost a Krugerrand when I was young, an ounce of gold minted in South Africa, the Krugerrands. He looked for it desperately. I don’t think he ever found it. He mislaid it. My dad, when he was young, he was about, I think, sixteen, seventeen, he left Lebanon to in part avoid the turmoil that was going on in that country but also to start a new life for himself. He went by himself to Saudi Arabia or Dubai, rather, by way of Egypt. And he worked there for a few years before his ultimate goal of coming to America, and he had all his life’s savings, about five thousand dollars, in a wallet, at the airport getting ready to come to America, worked all those years to save up enough to come to America.

And five thousand dollars in the ‘70s is twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars now, depending on when that would have been. And he left the wallet at the payphone. He mislaid it. He wasn’t careful enough with it. Imagine being someone who’s getting ready to start a new life in a foreign country at that point in your early twenties, and you just lose your entire savings due to carelessness or excitement. I don’t know what it was. Well, thankfully, a Sheikh, a Muslim priest, whatever they call themselves, had enough morals of this world to see my dad’s photo ID in there and track him down and wouldn’t even accept a reward.

But you mislay five thousand dollars in the seventies when that’s all you have, and it leaves an impression. Crucial things you can forget about. There are some more mundane things you can forget about that don’t necessarily result in loss of money or finance, but they can also be troubling. I remember as a boy... I don’t know if I should tell this story, but I remember as a boy, we’d regularly go to the gym. My parents were founding members of this recreational facility down the road, and I loved to swim. I’d go there and I’d swim. It was probably, I don’t know, between the ages of five and seven.

I had been swimming, and I think my mother was leaving, and I had to change before I got in the car with her. So I ran in the locker room and changed. Just going about my business. I come out, and walking down the side of the pool, I notice everybody’s looking at me. I’m like, “What?” I look down and I see my favorite pair of dinosaur underpants. I forgot to put my pants on at the pool, and I was mortified. I dove underneath of a table on the side of the pool and quickly put my pants on and just jetted out of there. I don’t know if I ever returned to the pool. I did. I did return to the pool.

But you forget certain things. And it’s not five thousand dollars, but it certainly felt like more at the time, you know. There are little boys in here. They can relate, I’m sure. Some fashion, we all can. But you forget certain things, and forgetting has implications.

Now, I posited early on that God did all He did on Mount Sinai so that we wouldn’t forget. But does the Bible explicitly say that? That’s my theory, that God wanted to engage the amygdala. But as we delve into this subject of forgetting, does God actually say it expressly? Deuteronomy four, He does. Deuteronomy four. God wants us never to forget certain things. Again, we could argue it all begins with what He chose to give us on Pentecost, whether it the law, the Spirit, the inception of the Church. It all begins with Pentecost in a certain regard.

Deuteronomy four, verse one, “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers gives you.” Moses speaking, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord your God hath destroyed them from among you.

“But you that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you unto this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded you,” not just before the golden calf moment, but even after the golden calf moment, that you should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who has God so near unto them...”

They would have heard about what God did on Sinai. “...so near to them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently,” Moses said, “lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen...” Don’t forget. Moses is telling the people. Don’t forget what you’ve seen and experienced. “...and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life: but teach them to your sons, and your sons’ sons.”

Then he goes on to say specifically, so here we’re zeroing in on Pentecost, specifically... “Specially,” rather, “the day that you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And you came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only you heard a voice.”

“Remember the things you saw,” Moses said, “especially what you saw at Horeb. Only you heard the voice.” “And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.” Over and over again, the Bible repeats certain things, because that’s the ball game, not forgetting certain things. There are certain basic things that keep us out of trouble as Christians. Just very basic fundamental things that are repeated over and over again, sometimes chapter by chapter, particularly in the law. Because that’s what it’s all about, listening to God, growing in His character so that we can enter His kingdom and help others do the same.

“He declared unto you his covenant, which He commanded you to perform even ten Commandments, and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might do them in the land where you go to possess it.”

Verse twenty-three. He elaborates on this, but verse twenty-three, “Take heed unto yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord your God hath forbidden you.” Take heed, don’t forget, is the message over and over. Moses, over and over again, drove it home here in Deuteronomy. Let’s see this a little bit as we continue so that we never forget. Chapter six, it’s two chapters later. You might think, “Well, Moses can move on to other subjects now.” No.

Chapter six. “Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land whither you go to possess it.” Same themes, you’re entering the promised land, obey God. “That you might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, and your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, in the land that flows with milk and honey.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart.” You can’t let them slip. “And you shall teach them diligently unto your children,” he told them, “and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

When you don’t have God’s Spirit, you have to go to drastic measures as a carnal nation to remember Him. Thankfully, we have His law, but we also have a Spirit which helps us remember His law. But these were drastic measures that they took to keep God’s law at the forefront of their mind, to keep what they heard on Pentecost at the forefront of their minds.

“And you shall write them upon the posts of your house and on your gates. And it shall be, when the Lord your God shall have brought you into the land which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you great and goodly cities which you built not, and houses full of good things which you filled not, and wells dig that you dig not, and vineyards and olive trees which you planted not, when you shall have eaten and be full, then beware...” he said, “...lest you forget the Lord, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, from out of the house of bondage.” Over and over and over again, the simple message is, do not forget God. Do not forget God.

Chapter eight. If I seem repetitive, I’m not repetitive. The Bible is repetitive. Chapter eight, verse eleven, “Beware that you forget not the Lord your God in keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statues, which I commanded you this day, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built goodly houses and dwelt therein...” You know, sometimes in God’s Church, we forget how terrible it was for many of us before coming into God’s Church, and we can forget how good we have it now. This is a verse geared toward the Israelites who were going to be given the promised land, but there is a direct parallel to our lives now.

“Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water, who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint, who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers knew not, that He might humble you and that He might prove you to do good at your latter end. And you say in your heart, ‘My power and my might and the might of mine hand has gotten me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He that gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant, which He swore to your fathers as it is this day. And it shall be if you do at all forget the Lord your God, and walk after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.”

How does the book close? There are other instances of not forgetting that we could have read, but how does Deuteronomy close? Deuteronomy thirty-two, verse sixteen. Close to the end of Deuteronomy here. “And they provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him to anger,” Moses citing the past. “They sacrificed unto devils, not to God...” as part of Moses’s song, “...to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly upon, whom your fathers feared not. Of the Rock that begat you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God that formed you.”

Amazing that they could forget a God who did so much for them, who showed them so much, who had such a marvelous future prepared for them. A lot of lessons in there for us. We’ve all lost important things. But the most precious thing we have is our relationship with God. We have that earnest, the Spirit in us. We have the hope of eternal life. Hebrews chapter two. Forgetting God doesn’t just happen. It doesn’t just, “One day, I forgot God,” doesn’t come upon you like that. It’s a choice and it’s a process. Hebrews chapter two, verse one, “Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed...” meaning more super abundantly hold it in the mind.

That is, pay attention to, be cautious about, apply oneself to, adhere to, heed to the things which we have heard Paul said. We have to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. We have to super abundantly hold them in mind, be cautious about them, adhere to them. “Lest at any time we should let them slip.” That word means flow by; carelessly pass by or miss. If you’ve ever seen a paper sailboat put in a stream, it just flows by and pretty soon you can’t see it anymore. Just pass by. Mundane, not a big deal. That’s what can happen to us if we’re not careful with our salvation. We can let it slip.

“For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation...” if we forget God, if we forget His ways, “which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by Him that heard them, God also bearing them witness with both signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His will.” Imagine being at the judgment and just thinking, “I let salvation slip away. I wasn’t careful. I forgot God. I mislaid God.” Oh, what a moment that would be. May it never happen to us.

Forgetting is a process. It’s not a matter of IQ. It’s not a matter of intelligence. You know, it’s not a matter of good memory. We can say, “Ah, but I have a poor memory. I’m going to forget God.” No. No, forgetting God is a choice. Judges chapter three. We’re in total control. Judges chapter three, verse seven, “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord...” And what did that doing evil result in? “...and forgot the Lord their God and served Baalim and the groves.” Doing evil, sinning is what leads to forgetting. It’s a process. So it’s very important to quickly repent when we do sin.

Don’t get in ruts. Don’t continually go down a path that will result in more and more sin, that by definition here, results in more and more easily forgetting God. Forgetting is a choice. It’s not a matter of intelligence. Psalm chapter fifty. Psalm chapter fifty. The same God who has anciently used fearful sights and wonders whenever introducing Himself is going to do the same in the future. He knows how human minds work. “The mighty God, even the Lord, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined. Our God shall come, and not keep silence:

a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.” Sounds a lot like Pentecost, anciently. “He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is judge Himself. Selah.

Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, even your God. I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of your house, nor the goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will I eat of the flesh of bulls or drink of the blood of goats? Offer unto the Lord thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. But unto the wicked, God has said, ‘What have you to declare my statutes, or that you should take your covenant in my mouth, seeing you hate instruction, and cast my words behind you?’”

If we’re resistant to what God is saying, that’s how we forget. Oh, I don’t want to believe that. I don’t want to do that. Again, it’s a choice. Because the moment we choose to forget what God says or choose to disobey what He says, we choose to cast His words behind us and we choose to sin and we begin to forget. Very simple equation. “When you saw a thief and you consented with him and have been partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil and your tongue to frame deceit.

You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son. These things have you done and I kept silence; though you thought I was altogether such as one as your self, but I will reprove you and set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you that forget God,” you that choose to sin and therefore forget God, we could add, “lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offers praise and glorifies me and to him that orders his conversation all right will I show the salvation of God.”

If we’re ordering our conversation all right, conversation is just a road, a course of life, or mode of action. If we’re ordering our conductor right, we won’t forget God. It’s actually impossible to forget God. But it starts with a fundamental choice to do what’s right. Now, there are many things throughout the Bible that we can’t forget. We’re here in Psalms. Go to Psalm one-o-three. Psalm one-o-three.

Verse one, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, heals your diseases, redeems you from life.” These are all things that we’re not to forget. Maybe they happened with greater frequency early on. Maybe we experienced some miraculous healing when we came into God’s Church, but He’s let us suffer through trial since then. He says, “Don’t forget what I do for you.”

Sometimes He lets us endure those trials to learn great lessons and He ultimately will heal us completely. “Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He has made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel,” we could add, on Pentecost in a big way. Other days as well, of course.

We can’t forget God’s mighty works. We’re talking about not forgetting God in His way. There are subcategories we could zero in on here briefly. It all falls under the umbrella of, do not forget me, do not forget God, do not forget my ways. That’s the lion’s share of what we’ve looked at and will, but here are some specifics within that. Psalm one-o-six, “Praise you the Lord, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His mercy endures forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?” Like what He did on Pentecost.

“Who can show forth all His praise? Blessed are they that keep His judgment and He that does righteousness at all times.” Now, we’re not perfect yet. That’s a goal. It’s something we’re striving for, but blessed is he that does righteousness at all times. “Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that you bear unto all your people. O, visit me with your salvation, that I may see the good of your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance.

We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not your wonders in Egypt.” They couldn’t comprehend what they were seeing. “They remembered not the multitude of your mercies, but provoked Him at the sea, even the Red Sea. Nevertheless, He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red Sea also.”

He was doing all this so that they could leave to keep a feast unto Him wherein He would deliver the law, Pentecost. He was doing it for other reasons also. But that was the pretext for leaving Egypt, that they might go journey into the wilderness and keep a feast to me because that feast was the feast He was using to transmit the law to human beings. “And He saved them from the hand of them that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies; there was none left of them.

Then believed they His words, and sang His praise. They soon forgot His work. They waited not for His counsel.” They forgot. And over and over again, whether it’d be in the law or in Psalms, God is using His servants to record, people can forget me and the results are disastrous. They soon forgot His works. They waited not for His counsel. If we think we can’t forget God, if we think we’re immune to it, we’re on dangerous ground.

Now, we’re never, “Oh, trembling in fear. Oh, I’m about to forget God.” No. But we ought to have a healthy respect for the fact that we can let things slip, too, if we’re not diligent in the areas that we understand and know we need to be diligent in. “But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert, and He gave them their request, but sent leanness to their soul. They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord.

The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. And a fire was kindled in their company: the flame burned up the wicked. They made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image. They changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eats grass. They forget God their Savior which had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea.”

And it’s not just God’s works that we read about in Scripture that we can forget. We can forget what He’s done for us. Hebrews ten, thirty-two is an amazing Scripture. Makes it very personal. It was not easy for most of us. Some of us, it was easier than others, but to come into God’s Church, there were probably some gun fights, so to speak, with family members or coworkers or friends.

Hebrews ten, thirty-two, “But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions.” It was tough. Battling sin, battling family, battling whatever it is, the three S’s, Satan, society, and self, and whatever forms they reared their ugly heads, but God delivered us through them all, just as He delivered ancient Israel from Egypt. Just as He gave them His law on Sinai, He gave us His law with expectation that we wouldn’t forget Him. Call to remembrance, not just the mighty works of old, but the former days that we’ve specifically lived.

We can’t forget God’s law no matter what. Psalm one-nineteen. We could bog down in Psalm one-nineteen if we wanted to. Here is seemingly overkill repetition about forgetting God and His ways, not just in the Psalms, not just in a book, but in a single Psalm. Psalm one-nineteen. I should have asked us to keep our hand in Psalms. Verse sixteen, “I will delight myself in your statutes: I will not forget your Word,” the Psalmist said. That involves study, meditation, coming to services. God never wants us to forget Him.

Verse twenty, or we’ll continue reading here. Verse seventeen, “Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live, and keep your Word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a stranger in the earth: hide not your commandments from me. My soul breaks for the longing it has unto your judgment at all times.” He desperately didn’t want to forget what God had taught him. And it doesn’t matter the circumstance. It doesn’t matter the trial we’re going through. It doesn’t matter the hand we’re dealt in life. God’s servants before us had it tougher.

And they give us examples here, like in verse fifty-nine, same Psalm. Psalm one-nineteen, fifty-nine, “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto your testimonies. I made haste, and delayed not to keep your commandments. The bands of the wicked have robbed me...” terrible situation, “...but I have not forgotten your law. No matter what befalls me, I don’t forget your law,” he said. I choose to obey you, and therefore, I don’t forget your law. Hard choices and tough circumstances. But compromising on God’s law, again, is not a matter of forgetting in the sense of mental capacity. Because God will bring all things to remembrance. We’re promised that with the receipt of His Holy Spirit.

Verse eighty-one, same Psalm. You’d think he’d move on to different subjects. Verse eighty-one, “My soul faints for your salvation, but I hope in your Word. My eyes fail for your Word, saying, ‘When will you come for me?’” He’s studying to the point where his eyes fail. Or he wants to see God’s Word in a way that his eyes fail. “For I am become like a bottle in the smoke.” I had to look that up. That’s like a wineskin, the bottle of old, being shriveled and dried up under heat, under the smoke. Just like a shriveled-up rag, piece of leather, bottle. Leather forming a bottle. A wineskin shriveling in heat. “Yet, do I not forget your statutes.” “No matter what I’m going through, I refuse to forget,” he said.

Verse ninety-two, “Unless your law had been my delight, I should have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts.” If I start eating pork one day, it’s not because I forgot that pigs are dirty, unclean animals. I make a choice to eat bacon. Those who left during the apostasy and went across the street and began eating pepperoni pizza as soon as they heard that it was okay to eat unclean meats, it’s not as though all of a sudden, the knowledge of what a pig was evaporated from their minds. No, they made a choice because that’s what forgetting God is.

That’s what God wants us never to do. That’s what He gave us Pentecost for, in a sense. Never forget me. Whether it be my law, whether it be through my Spirit, whether it be through the mighty acts that I did, whether it be for the fact that it pictures your place in the kingdom as a first fruit, our place in the kingdom of God as first fruits, never forget, could in some senses, should in some senses, be our rally cry.

One-forty, “Your Word is very pure.” Same Psalm. “Therefore, your servant loves it. I am small and despised, yet do I not forget your precepts.” No matter how lowly we are on this earth, “I’m small and despised, yet do I not forget your precepts.” I could be poor situation in a lowly background, doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter to God. He wants to see whether or not we’ll obey Him regardless of the circumstances in which He’s called us. Regardless of where He’s placed us in His body. This is all very, very temporary. He wants to see what we’ll do with what we have in the time that we’re given to do it. And He is the most equitable and fair judge, will reward us accordingly. And it all begins with not forgetting Him.

One-fifty-three, “Consider my affliction and deliver me, deliver me.” You know, if I’m going through something, I can bank on this. We can bank on it. “Consider my affliction and deliver me.” Why? “For I do not forget your law.” Now, if I’m forgetting God’s law, if I’m not paying attention, how can I expect Him to deliver me? That’s the flip side of the coin. But if we’re faithfully remembering Him, if we’re faithfully obeying Him, He might not deliver us speedily. He might bear long with us and then deliver us speedily. But it all starts with not forgetting Him.

How does this longest Psalm in the Bible end? One-seventy-five. We saw how Deuteronomy ended close to the end. We saw how Deuteronomy ended. How does Psalm one-nineteen end? Verse one-seventy-four, “I have longed for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. Let my soul live, and it shall praise you, and let your judgments help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep.” As we sometimes do, but we repent and we move forward. “Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.” “I may slip, I may have trouble,” he said, “but I don’t forget your commandments. I turn back to the right way. I’m not one of those who just casts your law aside,” he’s saying, and we can say.

It’s arguably the most important theme in the Bible, not forgetting God. You know, He gave us the Sabbath so we’d remember Him. He told us not to have other foreign gods so we’d remember Him. No matter the angle you look at, you could argue that not forgetting God is where it all begins in our journey to the kingdom.

Second Peter chapter one. We can’t forget how far we’ve come. We saw that in part in Hebrews ten. But we can’t forget how far we’ve come. Second Peter chapter one.

And we’ve come a long way if we’re sitting in this room, if we’re sitting in a congregation out in the field. It’s not easy to come here, and it’s not our choice ultimately either. It’s God’s choice. We have to make a choice to accept, but our being here is no accident and it was not easy for us to get here.

Second Peter one, three, “According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness...” very important list, “...and to brotherly kindness charity.”

We’ll see what Peter says about this list. “...kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off...” can’t see what it is that we’ve been promised if we forget these things, “...and has forgotten that he was purged from old sins.” We’ve got to remember how far we’ve come. We’ve got to remember that we’re no longer that old man. We’re on a path to glory.

“Wherefore rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things.” It might seem like Peter talks about the same things over and over again, just like Moses talked about the same things over and over, and Paul did, and so did Christ, and all of God’s servants, but it’s needful. It’s what keeps us on the straight and narrow.

“I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these basic things...” we could add, “...though you know them already, and be established in the present truth. Yes, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance.” Now, the God we serve is not a forgetful being. He will remember us to the very end as long as we don’t forget Him. He’s not forgetful of what it is that we’ve done. Now, if we ultimately fail, He’ll put us out of mind, may it never be so, but He remembers and He’s faithful to reward us.

This goes full circle, Hebrews chapter twelve, final scripture here, full circle. We weren’t at that mountain. We weren’t at Sinai. Hebrews twelve, eighteen. We weren’t in Jerusalem two thousand years ago, yet we have the ability to remember better than any of the individuals who were there for a very simple reason. Hebrews twelve, eighteen, “You are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest.”

You’re not coming to Sinai as anciently occurred. “And to the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, with the voice that they heard intreated that the Word should not be spoken unto them any more. For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it should be stoned, or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, ‘I exceedingly fear and quake.’

But you are come to Mount Sion...” Mount Zion “...and unto the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels...” No, we didn’t come to ancient Mount Sinai, we’re come to something much better, much bigger. “...to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you refuse not Him that speaks.

For if they escaped not who refused Him that spoke on earth...” we understand that account intimately now, “...much more shall not we escape, if we turn away, if we forget Him that speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, but now has He promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.’ And this word, yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.”

Brethren, every Pentecost, even every day, let’s remember one of the greatest lessons of the Bible taught on Pentecost, taught through the account of Pentecost. Never forget.